The present disclosure relates generally to building management systems. The present disclosure relates more particularly to systems and methods for identifying faulted devices in a building management system that are connected in an Ethernet ring network.
A building management system (BMS) is, in general, a system of devices configured to control, monitor, and manage equipment in or around a building or building area. A BMS can include a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system, a security system, a lighting system, a fire alerting system, another system that is capable of managing building functions or devices, or any combination thereof. BMS devices may be installed in any environment (e.g., an indoor area or an outdoor area) and the environment may include any number of buildings, spaces, zones, rooms, or areas. A BMS may include a variety of devices (e.g., HVAC devices, controllers, chillers, fans, sensors, etc.) configured to facilitate monitoring and controlling the building space. Throughout this disclosure, such devices are referred to as BMS devices or building equipment.
In some BMS systems, at least some of the devices are connected in a network and particularly, in an Ethernet network. Occasionally, some of these devices need to be fixed, replaced, or otherwise maintained. When a large number of devices are connected to the Ethernet network, it is cumbersome to manually inspect each device to determine if any device needs maintenance. Furthermore, when the Ethernet network has a large number of devices, and a device suddenly malfunctions, it can take quite some time to identify the malfunctioning device. While the malfunctioning device is being identified, other devices on the Ethernet network that interact with the malfunctioning device may experience decreased performance, and functions or operations in the BMS which involve the malfunctioning device can be adversely affected. Accordingly, it would be desirous to have systems and methods which can quickly and efficiently identify devices on an Ethernet network that need maintenance or are malfunctioned to avoid or minimize disruptions of the Ethernet network.